A&B sells California industrial park

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. said its real estate subsidiary has sold a three-building industrial park in Southern California for $43 million.

A&B bought the 898,400-square-foot Ontario Distribution Center in 2000 for $27 million.

"Located in the heart of the Inland Empire, Ontario Distribution Center has been a good investment for A&B," Norbert Buelsing, president of A&B Properties, said in a news release.

He said the facility had an 97 percent average occupancy during the company’s 10-year ownership, which allowed it to realize "favorable pricing for the property."

With the sale, A&B Properties’ portfolio of commercial properties now stands at 7.5 million square feet of retail, office and industrial space in Hawaii and seven other states.

A&B’s share were down 3 cents at $34.96 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

$13.2M allocated for small businesses

Hawaii will receive $13.2 million in funding, a critical component of the Small Business Jobs Act President Barack Obama signed into law last week.

Treasury Department officials said yesterday in a Washington news release that the state and Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands will each get $13.2 million.

The money is being made available as part of the State Small Business Credit Initiative allocations for states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. territories.

The department says the money will support $15 billion in new small-business lending through innovative local programs that help entrepreneurs expand their businesses and create new jobs.

Blackstone buys debt of 14 hotels

Blackstone Group LP bought the junior debt on 14 hotels owned by Columbia Sussex Corp. and might seize the properties from the company, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

A $539 million mortgage on the real estate that comes due this month was turned over to a firm specializing in troubled commercial property loans due to imminent default, Fitch Ratings said in June.

Blackstone has bought portions of mezzanine debt tied to the mortgage that might allow it to take control of the hotels as soon as this month, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

Blackstone, which sold the properties to Columbia Sussex five years ago, is building up its lodging business. The New York-based firm was part of a group that this year won a bankruptcy auction for hotel chain Extended Stay Inc., which it sold in 2007 to a group led by David Lichtenstein’s Lightstone Group LLC.

Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, bought the junior mezzanine portions of the Columbia Sussex debt from Northstar Realty Finance Corp., Fortress Investment Group LLC, Bank of America Corp. and hedge fund Fillmore Capital Partners LLC, the people said. The debt is backed by hotels including 10 Wyndham Worldwide Corp. properties, according to Fitch.

Blackstone, which paid $1.4 billion in equity for the former Wyndham International Inc. in 2005, sold half of the Wyndham hotel portfolio to Crestview Hills, Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex later that year for the same amount.

On the Move

» Prudential Locations has hired the following real estate agents:

— Kevin Kekona was previously an agent at D&D Realty and has extensive business background as owner, chief executive officer and/or president of North Shore Shuttle, Uncle Kevin’s and Wakeboard School Hawaii.
— Ron Pineda has 20 years of industry experience in California with extensive knowledge of residential and multifamily commercial real estate.
— Larry Thomas was previously an agent for Herbert K. Horita Realty as well as general manager for Premier Parking Maintenance.
— Donna Yamagishi was previously an agent at Coldwell Banker.

» Alexander & Baldwin Foundation has awarded a $2,000 grant to Feed My Sheep, the largest nonprofit distributor of food to those living in poverty on Maui. The grant will be used to buy items ranging from canned goods to fresh produce. Feed My Sheep serves about 140,000 meals each month.